Chapter3: Puppetus Pulls the Strings
The Dangdra's green sun was peering into the window, and woke Lyss at around 7:30 o'clock. She looked over to see Dante' changed into his fighting gear and holding a long skinny bag. "What's in the bag", she asked. Dante' said nothing but pulled out a slender katana. It was a beautiful sword. The blade immerged out of the mouth of a black emerald dragon, at the end of a diamond-incrusted handle. He was dressed in a red shirt under a black and red fighting vest, a black belt (obviously) and black pants with red highlights. He had a blue headband that he said used to be his baby blanket before his parents died. This was the first full sentence he said to her. Lyss went to the back room to get changed. She wore a simple outfit of lose sweatpants and a white tank top. She also wore her black belt, and said she didn't like formal tai-kwon-do apparel, so that's why she wore sweats.
They went down back to the lobby where the attitude had changed. The night before, everyone was excited and happy, today they were all quiet and focused. Lyss saw Dante' and Puppetus were staring each other down, trying to read the other's thoughts and feelings. She then saw Patria gazing at her, but it seemed as though she was looking into Lyss then at her. She was searching for any weakness, which she found.
Finally it was time for Dante's fight with Puppetus. He asked the refs who said he could use his sword. This gave him a great advantage on Puppetus, who looked scrawny and easy to break in half. He walked into the arena filled with screaming fans. Lyss was holding her ears, but Dante' seemed unaffected. He walked into the ring. The announcer came out to read the very short list of rules:
1-No hits below the belt 2-Fight till death
The bell sounded and the war was on. Dante' stood still as Puppetus ran in for a quick kill. Dante dodged all of his punches and cut him in half at the blink of an eye. Puppetus somehow reformed himself. "What the..", said Dante', but before he could finish, he had Puppetus' fist in his ribs. "Ok, sword isn't going to work" thought Dante', "So what should I do now?" When he finally came out of his thinking he couldn't see Puppetus. He looked up, there he was, levitating. Before he came to from his shock he was suddenly tied by invisible ropes on his arms, feet, and around his waist. Puppetus was in complete control. He then moved Dante's right arm and cut his left arm with the Spirit Sword. Dante' scream in agony while blood poured from the gash on his arm. Puppetus continued this tactic until Dante's clothes were blood soaked and torn. Dante' knew he was finished but then got an idea. He had been fighting with his body, when he should have been fighting with his mind.
Dante' closed his eyes and shut himself from the world. He could no longer feel pain, and was completely focused. He realized that when Puppetus moved his body parts around with the invisible string, it took too much power to control the whole body at once. He awoke in more pain then ever, but knew Puppetus weakness. When Puppetus went to slash Dante' again, Dante' moved his left arm down so he missed. The string holding Dante's left arm snapped. With a free arm, Dante' released a telekinetic power shockwave straight at Puppetus. It hit him right in the chest, sending him back. Dante pulled him back with the strings, and kicked him clean in the jaw on the rebound. The rest of the strings snapped and Dante' was free. Without his magic trick, Puppetus was defenseless. He tried all he could but Dante' was too quick. While Dante' was meditating he also realized that all Puppetus power came from his mind.
Dante' smiled. Puppetus knew he was going to die and fell to his knees. He begged for mercy, but Dante' knew it was a trick. He picked up his sword and walked in for the kill. Puppetus released another round of puppet strings. Dante' was ready. He cut the strings. Flipped over Puppetus and cut his head clean off his shoulders. Dante' waited, but Puppetus didn't reform. It was over. Dante' turned but fell to one knee. He had lost a lot of blood, and was loosing consciousness. The infirmary workers were out with a stretcher. They took him to a hospital wing, where they hooked him up to a blood transfusion. He stayed for a few hours, and was okay to go back to his room.
"How you doing?" asked Lyss. "I'm fine, but you have to go fight Patria now, remember?" answered Dante'. Lyss had forgotten, she had her fight in 20 minutes. "Oh, right! I'll be back afterwards. You stay in bed", Lyss told Dante'. "Whatever, just go win your match, the earth is counting on us." With that, Lyss left, heading toward the battle arena.